Santorum challenged this morning (Meet The Press) on voting for government spending in the senior prescription drug program said the law was based on the private sector model. The last time I looked at the private sector volume buying would allow drugs to be purchased at a lower price. That law explicitly forbade private secotr buying of pharma by the government. The most widely used cholesterol drug in the world Lipitor has American consumers pay 3x the price in Canada which employs bulk buying.

I don't know what private sector model he is referring to. It does reduce the sticker shock on pharmacuticals, up to about $1,500 but once you hit the "donut hole" it's full price till you hit $ 5,400 I believe. My Wife and I have part D insurance but the premiums are getting pretty steep. At second glance I think I should have checked pork for the pharma option. My wife was prescribed Lovastatin and our insurance declined to pay for it. It seems like the most commonly used prescriptions hit the no pay list every year. Combine pharma and insurance and you get screwed every time.

WTF?!?! We can buy food from other countries to consume and put in our bodies but we are not allowed to buy drugs from other countries?!?! I'm calling B.S.! Unless a drug plan includes the ability to import drugs from other countries in order to invoke the capitalism RWNJs so proudly rant about, instead of the monopoly currently in place, then no drug plan is truly for the benefit of the citizens of this country!

It is another example of our politicians showing us they really work for the lobbyists. It is a shame Rush does not get as upset about the taxpayer getting screwed in this kind of situation as he did about the recent hearing on contraception, which was not even about taxpayers having to pay anything at all.

Big Pharma has the Republicans in their pockets. All Obama could get them give up is 2 billion and eventual donut hole close. They still win with their 60% higher prices than are available in Canada and Europe. If they didn't spend millions on ads here trying to convince people they need their new overpriced drugs perhaps people would get a better deal on generics due to their long patent holdings. Many generics are already available earlier in Canada and Europe for their brands than here. Bush's Medicare D was a gift to them.

PPACA did limit admin./profit to 20% for insurers. Too bad pharma, device suppliers, testing and hospital care was not also limited. Single payer was given up for nothing, not a single GOP vote in the senate. While PPACA was an improvement, more has to be done.

No doubt about that, Jimbo. Insurers will just up premiums to compensate as they have anyway for years. Any device named "medical" gets a 200% price increase, and hospitals make the uninsured pay 100% of their inflated prices when they only get 1/3 of their bill paid by health insurance companies. 60% of bankruptcies are due to medical bills now. So much more to be done.

In a recent stump appearance he said buying drugs from Canada would stop pharma from developing new drugs. He said people are afraid to go into Netherland hospitals with half the people euthanized. He said mainline Protestants are not Christianity. He said gay sex is man on dog, destroys traditional marriages. He said sending your kids to college is being a snob. He said states should be able to ban contraception.

I find it unbelievable he is in second place for the GOP nomination. I wonder what goes through a Republican's mind to support him being such a fruitcake.

If by the "private sector model" Santorum means gouging the public for corporate profits and making it as difficult as possible for people to obtain the medicine they need to stay alive, then I guess he's right.